FAIRFIELD -- Only one Gilbert would leave the basketball court happy when it came to family pickup games.

It wasn't little brother Marcus, who often would be reduced to tears.

It wasn't big brother Malcolm, who wouldn't cry but wasn't any happier with the outcomes.

The only person left smiling would be the same Gilbert who always went home happy -- Charles, the father, who never lost.

"Marcus would be so mad," Malcolm Gilbert recalls. "I would come close and Marcus would come close because he's a good shooter. We'd be so mad because we'd try double-teaming him ¦ but he'd get his shot off so easy and my brother would go home crying.

"I would go home frustrated and would keep my emotions in check, but my brother would take it like he wanted to win. He has that drive."

The Gilbert brothers, who are now teammates at Fairfield University, learned everything they know about the game from their dad, who played at Cabrini College (Pa.) and was the boys' first coach at the YMCA.

"When we were younger, we'd always play our dad and he used to teach us," said the 6-foot-6 Marcus, who starts for the Stags as a freshman forward. "As we got better, he stopped playing because he didn't want us to beat him.

"He still has that undefeated record against us."

In addition to the game of basketball, Charles Gilbert taught his children a great deal more growing up, including being smart enough to retire from pickup games after Malcolm and Marcus started to sprout up and approach his 6-4 frame.

"I love my dad," said the 6-11 Malcolm, who was a center at Pittsburgh before transferring to Fairfield last month. "He was the one who got me into playing basketball and he's the reason why I really love this sport. He taught us a lot. He taught us the basics of how to play basketball."

Charles and Yarah Gilbert not only raised two NCAA Division I men's basketball players, but their oldest child, Milana, is a junior who plays at the University of Hartford.

LOVE OF THE GAME

Philadelphia fans are known for their passion about sports and their teams. Charles Gilbert certainly fit that mold growing up in southwest Philly and later New Jersey, where he moved around age 10.

His passion was passed on to his three children at an early age.

"He was my first coach when we were playing in the YMCA league when I was 7 years old," Malcolm said. "I remember losing our first game and how frustrated my dad was. That was a time when my dad was very competitive in sports. I grew up with that competitive mindset just being around my dad as my coach and watching him watch the Philly sports like the Eagles, screaming in front of the TV."

Almost from the time they were born, which came about a year apart, Malcolm and Marcus were always together. Big sister Milana is roughly a year older than Malcolm.

"We were like twins and our mom used to dress us alike," said Marcus, who is now 20.

Yarah Gilbert also helped educate the family when they were younger by home-schooling the children in Delaware. Charles also did more than just teach the trio how to play basketball. Prior to an AAU practice, Charles had his sons go into the stands and "get out of their comfort zone," according to Malcolm, by shaking hands with the parents in the crowd.

After being a short, chubby child, Malcolm started to get further out of his comfort zone when he hit a steady growth spurt around age 10. It took a while for him to settle into his new long and slender frame, but once he did, Malcolm started to garner even more attention on the basketball court once he graduated to AAU and travel teams.

Marcus, on the other hand, was the family runt until he started to sprout up in eighth grade. He was never far behind as they made their way through the basketball ranks.

"I think it helped me," Marcus said. "My parents always said I've always benefited from being the younger one, because I got to see what the older people do and the mistakes they make and whether I should do that or not. I've benefited from that and I've always felt following behind my brother would help me, because he's a good player and he's become a good person, too."

MAKING IT ON THEIR OWN

The Gilberts played a crucial role in raising their children on and off the basketball court, but also knew when it was time to let them go out on their own.

"I was a momma and daddy's boy, so I didn't like going to ANC at first, but once I got there, I loved it," Marcus said.

Before Malcolm even reached high school, his father instructed him to be a good role model for his younger brother. That message became even more important when the Gilberts were away from home for the first time.

"(My dad) said you and Marcus can watch out for each other and watch each other's backs," Malcolm said. "Grow together."

The brothers didn't just survive on their own, but they thrived when their parents cut the cord.

Playing on a talented basketball team in the Friends School League, Malcolm in particular started to generate plenty of attention as a talented big man who could knock down jumps shots, rebound and block shots. He became the nation's No. 34-rated recruit by Sports Illustrated and No. 8 center by ESPN-U. The brothers played with two other major D-I recruits, Rakeem Christmas (Syracuse) and Savon Goodman (UNLV), with Malcolm starting and Marcus becoming a valuable sixth man with his sharp shooting.

"We were high-profile, so there were a lot of coaches coming in," Marcus said. "I was trying to get my name out there a little bit. They always knew me through my brother and when my brother left for Pitt, my senior year, I started to break out a little bit and get my name out there."

Prior to choosing Pitt, Malcolm soaked up the college recruiting experience, which included being chased by multiple ACC and Big Ten programs along with Georgetown and Saint Joseph's.

One of the other schools with an interest was Princeton, where a young coach named Sydney Johnson was making a name for himself.

"When we were at Princeton, we saw a big 6-10, 6-11 kid who had grades and could really move well and was a great young man," Johnson said. "We really tried hard to get involved with him, but he decided to go the high major route."

Just like growing up in the Gilberts' house, when it came to recruiting, Marcus also tagged along with his big brother before he made his own name at ANC during his senior season.

"It was pretty cool because I had never been on a college campus really before," he said. "It was nice to see how the recruiting process goes with big profile players like my brother. It was pretty interesting and it just happened to work out that Coach Johnson came to Fairfield and started recruiting me. He knew my brother and I knew him from when I visited with my brother, so it was kind of a weird situation, but it worked out."

The only drawback to the entire process was when Malcolm finally settled on Pitt after helping ANC to a 21-6 record and No. 8 state ranking his senior season. The move to western Pennsylvania meant one major change in his life -- being separated from his brother for the first time.

"I remember looking out the window and seeing the truck leave (the Pitt campus) and I shed a little tear," Malcolm said. "I was like, wow, it caught me off guard. The person I had been with for a significant part of my life is now gone away and now I am by myself."

ROLE REVERSAL

With his brother off playing in the Big East, Marcus averaged 17 points and eight rebounds his senior season at ANC and started to generate his own interest from D-I schools. He peaked the interest of Johnson, who would move from Princeton to Fairfield after the 2010-11 season.

"I knew as soon as I got the job here (at Fairfield), he was locked in," said Johnson, who made Gilbert the first player he signed at Fairfield.

Little did the coach know, but about six months after Marcus arrived on campus, the other brother would follow.

Life in the Big East didn't turn out to be quite what Malcom expected and he played sparingly his first season at Pitt, appearing in just 19 games for a combined 93 minutes. This season, the Panthers decided to red-shirt him, so that meant Malcom wouldn't have seen the floor at all.

"I didn't think it was a bad idea to red-shirt because you get more time to get better," Marcus said. "But over the Christmas break, we talked about (him transferring) and I was just like it would be nice if you could come here. You'd get a lot of playing time and we could do big things here."

There was not much Johnson had to do to close the deal after baby brother spoke up and said how much he loved being at Fairfield and Malcolm should join him.

"They have played together and been successful (before)," Johnson said. "The pre-existing relationship (I had with Malcolm) was huge, but I think the brother-to-brother relationship was the catalyst."

It didn't take long for Malcolm to receive his release from coach Jamie Dixon at Pitt, visit Fairfield with his dad over the break and then enroll at the school. The only real change for Malcolm was that for once in his life, he was following his little brother somewhere instead of leading the way.

"It might seem like a big change, me being the older brother back then and him being like the older brother now, but we're only a year apart," said Malcolm, who won`t be eligible to play at Fairfield until December due to NCAA transfer rules. "If I was, say, five years older, it might be more significant, but how we were raised together, we are like twins. We know each other's inside jokes, we think alike and we are real close. We're like twins. So for the roles to change, it`s not that significant because we both look up to each other. We both look to each other for insight and we both listen to each other.

"We respect each other."

So far, Marcus has enjoyed his new role showing his brother around Fairfield.

"He's a rookie," Marcus said, with a smile. "It's kind of different, but I'm older now, so I can take responsibility for myself . Sometimes, you have to be the bigger brother when you are the younger one."

The Gilberts are so happy to be reunited that Malcolm has slept in his brother's dorm room every night despite having his own room on campus.

"For the first time, he's getting me up in the morning early and showing me around, welcoming me to the gym and everything," Malcolm said. It's a good fit and it made sense.

"Coach Johnson's rules about being respectful and being accountable, that's what I want to be around. And I get a chance to be around it with my brother, so that's a plus."